Baha Ha! Coconut Curried Chicken

Posted by Cameron Taylor on

Ever been to restaurant and had the most amazing meal that you just wish you could recreate at home?

I think we all have! And that’s what happened to me at Las Iguanas when I tried their Bahian Chicken Curry for the first time back in March. It was so simple but utterly delicious, so I set myself the task of figuring out the recipe.

It wasn’t as easy as I though it’d be! All I had to go on was the menu description:

Bahian Coconut Chicken 

Chicken breast strips pan-fried in cumin, coriander & cayenne & cooked in a creamy coconut sauce with ginger, garlic, tomatoes & coriander. Served with spring onion rice & shredded greens.

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(This is the dish from Las Iguanas!)

I searched the web and found nothing helpful, just lots of links to the restaurant and pictures on Instagram! Every recipe I found was nothing like the dish I wanted to make, so I tried widening my search to Brazilian coconut chicken curry and got plenty, but none of them quite right.

The closest I found was on AllRecipes so I started there and after a few attempts and tweaks, have finally recreated the dish as closely as I can. Ultimately though, regardless of its accuracy, this version of the recipe is delicious and goes down really well with all my friends who’ve been my guinea pigs!


(My first re-creation attempt)

Have a go and let me know what you think!

Ingredients

(serves 4)

For the spice blend:

  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 2 tsp turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (adjust to your own spice palette here! It’s powerful stuff!)
  • 1 tsp of Tandoori BBQ Marsala blend (I love this stuff! But if you don’t have it then using a bit of paprika is nice too)
  • a good pinch of salt and pepper to taste

For the curry:

  • Chicken breast (about 450g) diced into small pieces
  • Coconut oil
  • 1 diced red onion
  • 2 chopped green chilies
  • a thumb sized piece of ginger, finely diced
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely diced
  • a drained can of chopped tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp tomato puree
  • a can of coconut milk
  • a handful of fresh coriander

For the rice

  • 300g basmati rice, washed and left to soak for 30 mins
  • 500ml water
  • salt
  • spring onions

Method

  1. Prepare the spice blend, and coat the diced raw chicken in it
  2. Heat some coconut oil in a pan and when hot fry the coated chicken for about 5 minutes until seared
  3. Remove the chicken from the pan and put aside
  4. Add a little more oil to the pan and fry off the onion, chilies, garlic and ginger until softened
  5. Meanwhile, drain the washed rice and then put in a pan with 500ml water and a pinch of salt. With the lid on bring the pan to the boil, then turn the heat down and let it simmer until all the water has absorbed. This will give you perfect rice!
  6. Put the chicken back into the pan with the onion, chili etc.
  7. Add the tomato puree and the drained can of tomatoes, and cook for a couple more minutes
  8. Add the coconut milk
  9. Leave to cook for about 10 minutes
  10. Once the rice is cooked fry off the diced spring onions in a little oil, and then add the rice. Mix together on the heat and then serve
  11. Take the curry off the heat and serve, garnishing with the chopped fresh coriander.

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